Traveling With a Tablet? Try a Tablift

The Tablift lets you read your tablet lying down or sitting up. Photo from Tablift.

I’ll confess: My wife can always tell when I’ve been drinking out of a particular glass by whether or not it has greasy fingerprints all over it (mine).

Same with who used our tablet last — my fingerprints are everywhere. Maybe it’s the chips I like to snack on. Maybe it’s because I have long fingers. Maybe it’s…well, who cares, I leave fingerprints. Fortunately, I’m not a burglar by trade.

But I do like to read, look at photos I’ve taken, and write and watch things, etc., on our tablet, and I especially like to do these things when I’m traveling, which I do for a living, so if I can spare getting fingerprints all over the device, that’s a good thing.

Besides, holding a tablet up or even balancing it against your legs for a long period of time gets tiring.

That’s why I was glad to discover tablift, a nifty device that holds a tablet and allows you to use it in three different positions by rearranging its legs, which are strong but flexible. I have no idea how they do it, but they do, which is all I care about.

You can be reclining in bed — even lying flat, if you feel comfortable that way — or sitting up on a sofa when you use the tablift, with your tablet set and fastened securely in place with no hands or fingers needed. It works on uneven surfaces (like beds) as well as even surfaces, I’ve found.

Since when I’m in a hotel room I usually station myself on the bed rather than at a desk or in a chair, I find the reclining feature the most useful for me.

And the same flexible legs enable you to fold it up into a much smaller area. While it’s not particularly lightweight, it becomes compact enough to carry with you when traveling.

It’s also useful for holding your tablet on car trips, as long as you’re not the driver.

Of course, you can use the tablift at home as well, as we do, too. And it fits all iPads, whether full- or mini-sized, all Samsung Galaxy models, a number of Kindles,  and Microsoft Surface devices, among others.

As a writer, I’ve never particularly liked the expression “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but in this case I would encourage you to look at the accompanying pictures, which can probably give you a better idea of how it works and what it looks like while in use and folded up than I can.

But I can attest that I can now use our tablet, fingerprint free. If I can only get it away from my wife.

To learn more about the tablift, check out their website, here.

A clever design keeps the Tablift small enough to travel with and flexible enough to change positions for reading. Photo from Tablift.